The Golden State Warriors journeyed to Vancouver to play Toronto as a part of the NBA Canada series, where they fell to the Raptors 97-93 in a turnover-laden game that clearly showed two teams shaking off a summer’s worth of rust.

It is always nigh impossible to draw significant or meaningful insights from a preseason game in any sport, much less a preseason game that takes place just four days into training camp after an offseason that featured significant player turnover and three stars leaving the country for the Olympic Games. But there were some interesting points to note from this contest, starting with… Continue Reading →

When I was a classroom teacher I began each unit of study with an essential question that I expected my students to be able to answer in depth by the conclusion of the unit. This question served as a bridge to the unit’s content and themes, and could only be satisfactorily answered after unpacking, exploring, and analyzing many layers of material. A thorough, thoughtful investigation might take the student to a place of deeper and enduring understandings that would stick beyond the final test. Now that training camp has started for the Golden State Warriors, we begin our study of the 2016-2017 NBA season, and with the preseason commencing on Saturday in Vancouver, I pose a few essential questions and some accompanying thoughts.

The Golden State Warriors had their Media Day today, and despite the immense hype train and media monster that will be tagging along for the remainder of the season, the overall message today was one of endgame-oriented focus and deliberate concentration, a far cry from the fiery nature of last offseason. Dubs fans will fondly (or not) remember the numerous doubters that cropped up after the Warriors hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy at the expense of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015, from Cavs players lamenting that they were not fully healthy for the finals to Coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers of the Clippers, who claimed the Warriors got lucky with injuries and with not having to play his squad or the Spurs in the playoffs. The Warriors, in turn, responded both off and on the court, embarking on a scorched-earth campaign against the rest of the NBA that yielded a superlative 73-9 regular season before running out of steam and weapons in the playoffs, with the team nearly falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals and eventually succumbing in the NBA Finals. Continue Reading →

For the 2016-17 Warriors, every day will be media day. Monday may be the first day the media descends on the NBA’s most celebrated runners-up, but it won’t be the last. Things should only grow more interesting from here, as so many expectations are held up against what may prove to be an even more amazing reality. We’ve never seen a team like this before. To wrap our collective heads around what we’ll experience this year, I’ve brought in some help.

Out of all of Kevin Durant’s amazing performances at Oracle Arena — there are many, even before he dons Warriors’ jersey — one memory stands out. On April 16, 2008, the final game of Durant’s rookie season (and the final game of the Seattle Supersonics franchise), Durant gave a clear preview of what was to come in his career. He torched the Warriors for 42 points on 18-25 shooting, grabbed 13 rebounds, dished 6 assists and rounded his line out with 2 blocks and a steal. But more than any numbers could convey, he looked like a singular and unstoppable talent. The type of franchise player who wins multiple championships. A lot happened in the eight years since that night — Durant’s franchise moved, his supporting cast rotated, and he came tantalizingly close to his championship dreams a few times — but the ultimate prize still eluded him. All those years of unsatiated hunger to be the best brought Kevin Durant to the toughest decision of his life. And now, they’ve brought him to the Golden State Warriors.

First things first. Chances are Kevin Durant is going back to the Thunder. He’s become a pillar of the community in Oklahoma City, was a few minutes away from making the NBA Finals with his current team, and genuinely seems to be a guy who cares about loyalty. That said, there’s some interesting innuendo swirling around the Warriors’ pursuant of Durant.

“I learned a lot that will help me for the rest of my career.” Sitting at the podium after a heartbreaking Game 7 loss, Draymond Green gave credit to the Cleveland Cavaliers, took blame for his team’s improbable loss of the series, then turned to the future. Despite as good an elimination-game performance as you could hope to see — 11/15 from the field, 6/8 from three, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 32 points and endlessly aggressive defense over the course of 46 minutes and 56 seconds — Green deflected attention away from his heroics, and returned to his failings. Green embraced his role in this defeat because it’s not the end of his story; it’s a lesson to be applied next time. Green recognized that despite all the records, the adulation, last year’s championship and this year’s 73 wins, there are still so many ways to be better. Green is far from the only Warrior with something to learn from this defeat. Implicit in Green’s focus on those lessons is a resolute promise: “this ain’t the last that you’ll see from us.”

We’ll never look at this Warriors team the same way after tonight. So before Game 7 — one game with such a disproportionate weight — it’s worth appreciating what led us to this point. There was a time when the Warriors specialized in defining down the meaning of success. The abysmal years in the 1990s and early 2000s were full of empty moral victories, meaningless quarters won in games lost, and endless promises that maybe next year would finally be better. The 2015-16 Warriors couldn’t be further from that mindset. They took the ultimate measure of success — winning a championship — and aimed higher for their repeat performance. They won more regular season games than any team, and tonight try to complete their goal of turning in a season even better than the near-perfect one they enjoyed last year. This has been, and likely will be, the best Warriors team of my lifetime. I’ve enjoyed every second.

The Warriors’ season ends as it began: with their success being questioned. That alone should bring Warriors fans a sense of comfort as the team limps into Game 7. The Warriors spent 82 regular season games extracting slow and painful revenge for all slights, big and small. Their playoff run has been a rollercoaster ride of doubt and restored belief. This team will never be questioned more than between now and Sunday. But so far this magical season, every question has eventually been answered. And while the Warriors coaches and players fumed about the referees and paid due respect to a tremendous elimination game performance by LeBron James, they all ended Thursday night’s reflections in the same place. The Warriors return to Oracle Arena, in control of their own destiny, needing one win to wrap up the final chapter in their triumphant history. That’s not a bad place to be.